Yesterday I reminisced, today we move forward. I’ll break down the managerial candidates as I see them. Keep in mind; this is one of the most important hires in Cubs history (on the other hand, it will have been 103 years. Too many managers to count have come, gone, and failed. Most likely the new guy will too, so it probably doesn’t matter who the Cubs hire). Now more than ever, fans are demanding a winner on the North Side. Fans have shown for the first time this year, they will walk away if the team does not win. Mr. Rickets and Mr. Hendry…don’t eff this up. The Cubs need someone young and energetic. This will be a rebuilding team for about two years. We need someone semi-experienced to have the confidence in their path ahead, but young enough to handle the losses at first.
Mike Quade: My dark horse candidate all along since Lou announced his retirement originally. Quade has been named the interim manager for the rest of the season. This is somewhat of an eye raiser with Alan Trammel, who has managerial experience still serving as the Bench Coach. Rickets and Hendry may be using the last month and a half as a de facto job interview for Quade. Quade has managerial experience with the Iowa Cubs, has been in the managing/coaching ranks since 1985, and has been in the Cubs system since 2003. The man has never held a permanent managerial position in the Majors however, which can be looked at two ways. There’s a reason he’s never held that position, or, he has paid his dues and deserves a shot to manage at the highest levels.
For some reason, I already miss Lou. I was ready for him to move on, but not like this. Somehow, I wish his four seasons at the helm could have been reversed. Those first two seasons were so fun. Every day, you looked forward to the game as a fan. But the last two years…well, Lou summed it up best himself “It’s a good day to remember, and also it’s a good day to forget.” (Which in my mind I will always hear “one drink to remember, another to forget,” because it would have been more awesome had he quoted Dave Matthews and it’s more the Cubs style.)
Those who say “Lou will come back,” haven’t been watching this season. It doesn’t take a shrink to read Lou’s body language this season. The man is tired. The man has given everything a person can give to the game, and he realizes it’s over. When he said “this is the last time I’ll put on a uniform,” I about cried like Marley had died all over again.
This post is sponsored by Mark Charter, Real Estate Agent with Re-Max in Ankeny, Iowa. If you are looking to buy or sell your home, and like cash right back in your pocket, give Mark Charter a call at 515-864-6444. Not only will he dedicate his time and talents to work for you; he will give you what equates to approximately 1% of the sale price of your home. There is nothing like cash in your pocket during these times, so give Mark Charter a call, get your house sold sooner and smoother than ever, and get moved in to your new home fast and efficient, and tell him the Des Moines Sports Freaks hooked you up.
It has been an interesting past few days in the sporting world. Jay Mariotti was arrested for an “alleged” domestic assault. Lou Piniella decided to call it quits with the Chicago Cubs to take care of his ailing mother (be sure to check back later today, when Blake plans on posting his comments on Sweet Lou). Favre is back, and played all of four downs last night against the 49ers (one completion, one sack). Strasburg strained a tendon in his right forearm, so we might not see the phenom for the rest of the year. There are lots of stuff to talk about…so be sure to check out The Des Moines Sports Freaks Hour tonight from 6-7pm CST at www.desmoinesamplified.com to hear us wax poetic on all sorts of topics, to include a much anticipated piece on the Iowa Hawkeyes with State Street Sports out of Chicago. Very exciting stuff.
But I digress. Lets get back to the topic at hand as I continue my breakdown of the NFL, division by division. The compass takes us to the AFC East, probably the toughest division in football. Minus the Bills. They suck rear-end. Let us begin.
4. Buffalo Bills (1-15)
Other than an “upset” of the Kansas City Chiefs in week 8 (Halloween, nonetheless), I don’t foresee the Bills winning a game this year. It sure didn’t help when Marshawn Lynch and Fred Jackson both went down in the same game. They drafted C.J. Spiller for a reason, and he will help fill the void in the opening weeks of the season, but he isn’t an every down back. Luckily, their injuries aren’t season-ending…but that is about the only bright side. Trent Evans is a decent quarterback, and Lee Evans still has flashes of greatness, but when over half your schedule is against teams ranked in the pre-season top 15, you have to wonder just how this season will shake out. Even the scheduling gods don’t like the Bills: All of their games are at 1:00pm ET on Sunday. No primetime spots at all. It doesn’t look pretty for the Bills.
I wasn’t able to engage in my normal banter with Des Moines Sports Freak 2 this week during our weekly show. Therefore, I will challenge some of his incorrect positions and reaffirm others. (Yeah, go ahead and think it, I’m stretching for content here. But just think, it’s the last weekend without meaningful sports for the rest of the year, Only after publishing this column did I realize I was off on my weekends and we have to suffer through a total of 2 more irrelevant weekends before we get to football. I was crushed upon this discovery.)
10. Check out my column written right after last year’s PGA Championship. I had no idea how far Tiger would fall, but I sure predicted the beginning of the end. Corey Pavin…grow a set and leave Tiger home. It doesn’t matter that he’s technically the number one player in the world, if he sucks, he sucks. Give somebody that deserves a chance based off of this year’s performance, the chance to play. Tiger sucks in team competition anyway, let alone this year.
9. So the Mountain West Conference is stealing teams from the Western Athletic Conference. This would mean more to me if I could keep the conferences straight, and remember which teams were in which conference to begin with. The WAC will be just fine. In fact, it sounds like they’re taking my recommendations for what the Big 12 should have done had Texas-geddon happened and will ask a few 1-AA teams to join. What does perk my interest is that BYU is thinking about going Independent. If that happens, and they were to get the same sort of BCS Bowl deal that Notre Dame has, I would drive to the BCS Headquarters and burn them down. (To the FBI agents that read this…that was a joke…get a sense of humor). I can only hope Senator Orin Hatch is serious that his witch hunt of the BCS will continue no matter what.
8. Joe and I both predicted last year that there would be no way that Favre started every game last year. We were both wrong. I don’t like being wrong. Favre will start every game this year, probably to the detriment of his tea. We’ve all seen Favre plays if his coach wants him to or not. Which leads me to:
7. Rumor is Favre doesn’t trust Brad Childress. Really? That is qualifies for breaking news on ESPN? In other news, Favre wears Wranglers. Even if he trusts Childress, he certainly doesn’t respect his coach or even his teammates. There’s no way that Favre has as good of a season as he had last year, which may cause another schism in the locker room. This time, it may affect the team on the field.
6. I wish LaGarrette Blount could spend one day in Stefan Johnson’s shoes. Blount is stupid enough to hit a teammate wearing a helmet and clearly has temper issues. Blount will be given chance after chance, after suspension after suspension. Johnson just wants to stay healthy enough to stay on the field. I’m hoping Johnson makes it back…I hope Blount ends up broke living on the street corner.
5. I don’t think that with the addition of Derek Lee, the Braves become “scary good” as Joe said yesterday. Lee doesn’t hurt the Braves. He helps immensely in the field, and should provide veteran leadership in the clubhouse (although, coming in this late, he’ll have to work hard to have that clout this year). He’s only a slight upgrade from Troy Glaus at the plate though. He’s only hitting .251 with 16 homers. He has an annoying propensity to hit into Double plays. I’m a little more surprised the Braves didn’t show interest in Aramis Ramirez to fill the void left by Chipper’s injury. I tend to think the Braves were headed to the World Series before they picked up Lee.
4. I can’t wait for Roger Clemens to be exposed as a cheater, liar, and adulterer. As he’s sits in jail in the future, I hope he realizes that just because you’re a million dollar athlete, you’re not invincible. The simple truth, followed by a simple apology could have negated all this drama he currently faces. He should join the addition the Fallen Hero’s wing of the Hall of Fame I suggested here.
3. Bulls are scary. They should be avoided when angry.
2. Renee Gork should sue the shit out of her KAKS Radio for wrongful termination. She was fired for wearing a Gators hat to an Arkansas press conference. Frankly, the South annoys me with their football addictions. This is a person’s livelihood, and the last time I checked, the freedom of speech is still a guaranteed right in this county. Even trumping SEC football.
1. Next time Tim Tebow is in a preseason game…I bet he slides.
It has been one of those days. There is a lot going on around the world of sports…but nothing I think worthy of a full post. Yes, that includes Brett Favre. We have talked enough about him to last a lifetime, and I just can’t do it anymore. Of course, I say that now. Just wait until the season starts and we see if his return to the Vikings for his twentieth season was a good idea. I say no. Like I said in an earlier post, I believe his streak of consecutive starts will end this season. He may not injure himself, but every defense he is playing against will want to do it for him. I never wish for someone to get injured, but in this case, I’ll make an exception. Is he a great quarterback? Yes. Is he the best of all time? Maybe. He’s at least in the discussion. Is he a special player? Yes. Does he deserve special treatment? Hell no. But, he gets it anyway. Hell, I’m waiting for John Madden to make a statement from his knees in front of Favre, seeing as how he is his biggest supporter. Thank the lord he isn’t in the booth anymore. I would sometimes mute games just so I wouldn’t have to hear him talk. I can’t imagine what he would be saying every week now that Favre is back. Some people should just stay retired.
LaGarrette Blount has thrown another punch, this time at his own teammate. Hey, it’s training camp. If you aren’t getting flustered and throwing punches, maybe you need to work a bit harder. Having said that…I don’t think his suspension days are over. Once a fighter, always a fighter. If he has no issues punching out an opposing player after a game, or punching a teammate during practice, what happens when he gets to a real game, against real players and competition, and he isn’t performing? Yeah. More punching in the face.
I have said that I will only talk about one sport per post. I don’t know what I was thinking. You can’t control headlines. I want to make something clear here…I have just become an Atlanta Braves fan. Blake is probably excited with the recent turn of events, seeing as how he has been somewhat of a Braves fan longer than Cubs (maybe that’s a false statement; deal with it). But now the Braves have Derrek Lee, and they are a contender. Chipper is out, so Lee is going to provide some much needed offense. This team has just turned scary good. Lee is a great defender, and is always dangerous in the box. The Cubs showed some class in trading him to a team that is in the World Series hunt. Lee has given nothing but his best to the Cubs throughout his entire career, and although the Cubs got what equates to three prospects and a salary dump, they raised up a peg or two in my book. Kudos to them for giving one of their most dedicated players a chance at winning a World Series. I will be cheering for the Braves down the stretch. Good luck Lee!
I have no idea what an opus is, but if people like Mozart and Beethoven could write one, why can’t I? Therefore, I unveil my Baseball Opus.
I couldn’t sleep tonight. Mostly, because of the combination of Deviled Eggs and Gumbo I had for dinner, but those are details. Monday night, I took an epic field trip of inconsequential proportions. As most of you know I took in a Mariners-Orioles game in Baltimore. If you’re counting, they were a combined 53 games out of first when they played. As I rode public transportation after public transportation, I realized it wasn’t about the journey (here comes a cliché) it was about the destination. I had one of the best-live-sporting-event-of-my-life moment at the game. I’m not even joking. I took a freaking TRAIN for chrissakes! A train! What is this, the barnstorming days of Bob Feller and Ted Williams?
I can only try to put it into words the feeling down to my core that this is what sports were made for. Not TV, not billion dollar Gatorade contracts, not the pimps up ho’s down attitude of modern athletics. No matter how much life changes, no matter what season of Survivor we are on, there will always be Baseball. It’s part of our psyche, and makes up the American fiber. We’re wired for baseball. Maybe not the sabermetric crap that mind boggles most. Maybe not the glitz and glamour of the spend-a-thon teams that exist today. Maybe not the perverted game we sometimes see on TV.
This has nothing to do with beer, but the Red Stripe dude is the best person in this post at what he does. Yes, I’m saying Tiger is no longer the greatest golfer in the world…at this point. Will he reclaim that title? Probably. But right now, he’s cut…he’s not a machine…he’s a man! A man who played with more skanky women than Flava Flav. But what is done is done. I’m sick of hearing about that. To be honest, I haven’t heard about that lately. It is more about his golf game, which is how it should be. When talking about him this year though, we aren’t oohing and aahing as we usually are. Typically, he is sinking a shot from a bunker 100 yards out, or making a 75 foot putt without breaking a sweat, or driving the green on a short par four and putting the pall 10 feet from the cup. Now, we are oohing and aahing because he can’t seem to do anything right. When he first re-joined the tour at the Masters, he played better than I thought he would. Now, he is suckin’ it up. I don’t have a reason for his downfall. I’m not a psychic. But I do know a couple of things.
One, he should not be the number one golfer in the world much longer. Lefty Phil Mickelson will be taking that title from him shortly. And two, he has no business being on the 2010 Ryder Cup Team. That team should be chosen by this year’s performance, not by the power of your name and the stength of your brand. Don’t get me wrong, I believe Tiger will regain his form soon. But this year has been one of the worst of his career. Corey Pavin, I know you read this blog every day, so listen up. If you pick Tiger to be on the Ryder Cup Team of 2010, you are selling out. You are taking a golfer who has been great in the past, and who will be great again in the future, but for right now, he’s just average. Average doesn’t win the Ryder Cup, so therefore, you should not pick Tiger. See? See my expert analysis? You should listen to me more often. You know who you should pick? Zach Johnson. At least he’s won a tournament this year…
I don’t pretend to know all the Rules to golf. I also don’t understand the reason behind many of the rules I do know. That being said, Dustin Johnson got hosed. Sure, he should have known the rules, but I’m not sure why grounding your club in a bunker is against the rules to begin with, especially to the tune of a 2 stroke penalty. What would have the PGA had done had Tiger made the same mistake while in the hunt for the Championship?
Anyway, it’s golf, and I don’t really care. I’m kind of over it already, and I’m glad the major tournaments are done for the year, so I can’t focus on sports with rules I understand.
In other news, I’m heading to Washington DC this morning for work. If you remember, my last trip to DC, was interesting and I hope to avoid another Roofie incident. Luckily, it’s not all sweat and hard work while I’m there, and I’ll have a chance to take an hour long train ride (each way) to Baltimore for a Orioles-Mariners game. This is how crazy I am. An hour long public transportation train ride each way, and spending actual money to see the lowly Mariners and Orioles. My wife is frankly scared for my life on this train ride. I told her I’d be ok, and I’d do anything to see the warehouse that used to count Cal Ripkin’s streak.
Sure, it’s two teams I don’t care about, and couldn’t be further from relevant. Have you realized the the Orioles are so irrelevant that the picture I chose to show was from a retired player in 1982 and until I just mentioned it, you didn’t think anything of it, because he’s still the face of the organization? I don’t care though, it’s baseball, and the time to see live baseball this year is getting short. So, yeah, I’m excited to see Camden Yards, but the real reason I’m going so far out of my way to get to this game…both the Ravens and Redskins will be done with practice for the day before I can get there…so the Orioles it is! Oh well, I’ll get to see former Cub legends Corey Patterson and Sir Battleship himself!!
Now that Blake has his nerd rant out of the way and I have my random rant out of the way, we are going to continue on with what people care about: FOOTBALL!
So far I have broken down the NFC North and AFC North. My division winners have been the Green Bay Packers and the Baltimore Ravens. Next up is the NFC South. This division has two teams that, in my opinion, are out of the race from the get go. But, it also has two teams with legitimate shots at a Superbowl appearance. Who will take the division in a very close race?
3 mins ago Wish I could be at P'pal Park 2 watch the @IowaCubs clinch today, but we're heading back fm Sioux City. I guess we'll settle for a PO game.
7 mins ago I had to read the whole column twice to make sure I was reading between the lines right. What a smug ass. @bvak
2 hours ago You mean like using the head to head records of Iowa and Purdue from the 60's-80's? @bvak
3 hours ago Trust me, read the Allspach column in the Sioux City Journal. Effin Nebraska fans. @bvak
3 hours ago RT @CarrieMuskat: B. Scales hit a go-ahead 3-run HR to help I Cubs beat Memph 8-5 Sat. Now 1 win away from PO. Samardzija pitches Sun. #Cubs
